If you have watched British TV comedies or read British comic novels recently, you’ll know that there’s a distinctive style to them, whether it’s High Fidelity or Bridget Jones’ Diary. Life in London for people in their twenties and thirties seems to be an endless source of material for young British novelists living in London. The style is to keep the plot moving quickly, with neurotic characters moving from crisis to crisis, reflecting on their lives in a jokey, self-deprecating sort of way, searching for true love. Basically it’s a safe way to write, and it gets a little predictable. But it also keeps you turning the pages while giving an occasional chuckle.

Readers will be able to tell after the first couple of chapters that the main protagonists in Thirty Nothing, Dig and Nadeen, will eventually end up together. They have been best friends since they were young teenagers, and they have seen each other go through life’s trials and tribulations, and especially plenty of short and hopeless relationships. They had crushes on each other in those early years, but their relationship was never really given a chance. If only circumstances would sort themselves out so that they can actually tell each other how they feel, they will be able to sort it all out. It’s formulaic and shallow, but so long as you don’t expect too much, you won’t be disappointed.

One small detail that I found distracting: just as with Harry Potter, the US version is "Americanized" and so is slightly different from the British text. Exactly how much has been changed I can’t tell because I haven’t seen the British version, but there are many little cases where I noticed that there must have been changes: for example, people in Britain don’t take Advil for their headaches, because there is no such medicine over there. These changes may be welcome to US readers who find some of the British terms mystifying, but for ex-patriates like myself, I missed those distinctive uses of British brand names and expressions.

Overall this is a fun read, even if it gradually becomes clear that the ending is as predictable as one fears at the start. Dig and Nadeen are sympathetic characters who seem clueless about how to have happy relationships, and so it’s only natural that they end up together.

Categories: Fiction